A World Without You
by Yunniemon
Summary: The dream world Peeta's drifting in when Katniss gives him the sleep syrup. From the first book of the trilogy, Katniss/Peeta.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The regular POV sections are written by Suzanne Collins, not me- but Peeta's POV is written by me. The Hunger Games trilogy was created by her as well.

**Regular POV (Katniss)**

"They're sweet as syrup," he says, taking the last spoonful. "Syrup." His eyes widen as he realizes the truth. I clam my hand over his mouth and nose hard, forcing him to swallow instead of spit. He tries to make himself vomit the stuff up, but it's too late, he's already losing consciousness. Even as he fades away, I can see in his eyes what I've done is unforgivable.

I sit back on my heels and look at him with a mixture of sadness and satisfaction. A stray berry stains his chin and I wipe it away. "Who can't lie, Peeta?" I say, even though he can't hear me.

**Peeta's POV**

I did hear her say those four last words. But I can't think about it right now, because I'm falling. Why am I falling? It feels like it's never ending until I blink, and there I am, in my room. Why am I here? I should be participating in the Hunger Games right now, with Katniss by my side. Confused, I walk over to the door, and open it. There's nobody home but me. Where could they have gone? I start to walk to the main door to get outside, until somebody opens it before me. It's my mother.

"Why are you just standing there, Peeta? Go get the supplies we need to bake for today. Customers will be here in two hours," she demands, with that look she always gives me when I'm unoccupied with anything. My head is spinning. I don't understand, what happened to me? Why was I in my room, sound asleep? I think about how I was injured, and roll up the sleeves of my pants to reveal my pale legs, uninjured and sound. My mind starts to panic.

"Why am I here at home when I should be at the Hunger Games?", I quickly ask. She gives me a look, one that means she thinks I'm idiotic or crazy or both. "Hunger Games? Have you been watching too many reruns of that thing?", she exclaims. It's not time for them yet, Peeta."

Not time? I'm sure that I'm in the right mind, because I remember everything that's happened during the Hunger Games, up until Katniss gave me that sleep syrup. So why is she saying that the Hunger Games hasn't started yet? "What about Katniss? Where is she? I should go see her," I say, because if I remember the happenings of the Hunger Games, she should too.

However, the next thing that my mother says shocks me. "Katniss? Who's Katniss, Peeta? Is she one of your friends at school?"

Surely, my mother knows Katniss. Our family knows every other family in District twelve. Many buy our bread, and residents from the Seam at least drool at our store's sweet scent. Also, I've talked to her about Katniss, and she's always hated her. There's even that incident with the bread when both of us were young! So why does my mother not recognize her name?

I stumble outside and run to her home. I run as fast as I can, even if my lungs are killing me from running this fast. I sprint over to where she lives and there, I see Katniss' sister, Prim. I call out her name as loudly as I can, and she turns around in surprise. "Yes?", she asks, in a high pitched voice.

"Prim, I need you to tell me where your sister is, and fast. It's urgent." I'm hoping she's not as clueless as my mother, but to my own misfortune, she cocks her head to the side. "What sister?", she asks innocently. I'm shaken. Why doesn't anybody remember Katniss? "Prim… how do you not know your own sister? Katniss Everdeen? Come on, you have to know her!" I grip her shoulders and shake her. "Why can't anyone remember?"

Tears start forming in her eyes. "S-Stop it… you're scaring me! I don't have a sister!" She yells out the last part, and I let go instinctively. Everybody's looking at us and whispering. I can hear what they're saying. Poor Prim, being assaulted by the baker's psycho son. I can't handle it anymore. I run away from the place, and find a fence that's used to keep the flesh eaters out of this district. I slam my fist against it, and scream at the top of my lungs. Where is this place? Am I dreaming? It's a possibility, but I'm not that sure. One thing I'm sure of, though, is that there is no Katniss Everdeen in this place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Peeta's POV**

I need to find out why Katniss isn't in this place. But how? If Prim doesn't know… maybe Gale knows! I know Gale because Katniss talks about him. I've also seen them together sometimes, coming back from hunting. They're pretty close, like siblings, and I would have thought of them that way. But I can tell the way he looks at her… he really cares for her. Maybe even loves her. My heart drops. No, I can't think about this now, I have to find out where I am, and why Katniss doesn't exist.

I run back to the Seam, and look around frantically. He's got to be here. Or maybe he's hunting? I think about heading back to the fence when I see him, talking to a bunch of girls. I'm not sure of the way I should approach him. I'd much rather talk to him alone, without all those noisy girls flocking around him, because then we can talk in private. I decide that I'll try coming back later, so I go back to our bakery and wait for an hour. The sky is purple and the sun is setting when I walk back to where Gale was. When I reach the place, he's still there, to my relief. "Gale!"

He turns toward me in a quarter of a second. It's expected, since he hunts with Katniss, and you need fast reflexes if you're ever going to catch anything, or so I believe. I haven't ever hunted myself. "Yes?" he asks, just like Prim did, but he has a much lower voice.

"Do you know who Katniss is?" I ask, and from the look on his face, I know that I must look pretty idiotic. He ponders and taps his chin, and in that moment I have a flicker of hope inside me. That he'll understand, he'll know where Katniss is, and if she isn't here, he knows why. But that flicker dies when he answers, "I don't know a Katniss, sorry." I try another tactic. "How about a Catnip? Do you know a person called 'Catnip'?" I'm hoping that he buys it, but again he replies with, "I don't know a 'Catnip' either, sorry."

If he doesn't know who Katniss is, where is this place? Is this some kind of sick nightmare? Did the Gamemakers create some kind of weird insect that's injected a solution into me that gives you a horrid dream like this one? Or maybe this dream is trying to tell me something. That if Katniss wasn't part of my life, I'd be living a normal life like this one. I wouldn't have to participate in the Hunger Games, and I'd live a happy life just being the baker's son. But I can't accept this.

Ever since that moment she started singing in class, I've always been in love with her. Her long, black, braided hair and her olive skin. They way she looks deeply into your eyes with her gray ones. Everything about her is utterly amazing, and it made me a little happy when we were both chosen to be in the Hunger Games together, because it meant that we would be able to spend time together. So why isn't she here? Suddenly, the ground around me starts crumbling and once again I'm falling, falling, falling… and I'm in my bed again.

Why is the same thing repeating? I'm sick of this. I dash out of my room and, on schedule, comes my mother with the same lines she used before. "Why are you just standing there, Peeta? Go get the supplies we need to bake for today. Customers will be here in two hours," she demands once again. Instead of going straight to Prim, I run back to my room and slam the door shut. This can't be happening, is this dream never going to end? A nightmare I'll have to live forever? Tears start streaming down my face and I do nothing to stop them. And then, I blink, and it's all black.

I wake up to the sound and smell of rain. I notice that I'm in a cave, the very same cave I was in before the horrible dream. I look around frantically, and there you are. Katniss Everdeen. In body and soul. It's her… it was all a bad dream! Then I notice that she's lying down in a big pool of blood. I start to panic, and then I remind myself that panicking will get me no where. I take a minute to calm down, and start mending to the wound on her head.

**Regular POV (Katniss)**

Then there's a voice, the wrong voice, not my mother's, and I'm scared.

"Katniss," it says. "Katniss, can you hear me?"

My eyes open and the sense of security vanishes. I'm not home, not with my mother. I'm in a dim, chilly cave, my bare feet freezing despite the cover, the air tainted with the unmistakable smell of blood. The haggard, pale face of a boy slides into view, and after an initial jolt of alarm, I feel better. "Peeta."

"Hey," he says. "Good to see your eyes again."

**Peeta's POV**

I wait for her to wake up, and when she opens her eyes I sigh in relief. "Katniss," I whisper gently. "Katniss, can you hear me?" A warm, tingling feeling is felt in my heart when she says my name. "Peeta." I love the way she says my name. I'm so glad that the place without her was only a dream. I'll think about why I had that dream later, but right now, I'm so glad that she's here, staring at me with her lovely gray eyes. "Hey. Good to see your eyes again."


End file.
